Toothless' Secret
by JustAnotherFangirl27
Summary: Toothless has a secret and Hiccup's about to find out what it is! Watch as Hiccup and the gang dadjust to Toothless's new life of... parenthood! Rated T for some implied stuff in later chapters. Some HxA fluff and a bit of angst! Please read and review!
1. The Dragon Cave

Toothless' Secret

Chapter One – The Dragon Cave

Hiccup scrawled another note in his sketchbook, and then sighed. _Counting dragon eggs may be the only down side to having the best pets, _Hiccup mused to himself as he counted a grouping of Gronckle eggs. He knew better than to get too close. Water dripped off the dank walls of the cave where the Green Death – as the Vikings had taken to calling it – and the other dragons had lived, served and nested. Now that the dragons were housed and fed with the Vikings on Berk the only real purpose the cave served was for laying eggs and rearing young.

Hiccup, who was fit and healthy, but equivalent to a talking fishbone in the physical aspects, enjoyed learning about dragons. Although, he found that his joy of knowledge and understanding of his friends only went so far. The mind numbing boredom that found its way into his skull as he counted the eggs was infuriating. But the task, while mundane, was extremely important to the lively-hood of the village.

Six months earlier the amount of dragons being born would not have mattered because the Vikings had killed nearly hundreds of them every month. But now that the only thing to bring the dragons down were disease or crippling collisions – like the crash that had resulted in the loss of half of Toothless' tail – were the only things keeping the population from booming out of control. It was up to the chieftain – or rather the chieftain's son – to make sure that the dragon population did not exceed the supply of food that they were willing to part with for their pets. It was not as though the Vikings were selfish or that the dragons couldn't hunt for themselves, it was that the Vikings had to be sure that what little game and crops they had on the island of Berk would last through the winter. If they knew the population of dragons then they could decide if they needed to send the dragons that had no Viking owner to hunt on a different island. It was one way to ensure that there would always be enough food.

Hiccup smiled at the plan, because it reminded him that there were Vikings on Berk who were completely different from his boorish cousin: Vikings that actually used their brains and strategized rather than rushing blindly forward. Hiccup was proud to be the son of one those Vikings – even if that same Viking's bull-headed stubbornness sometimes led to problems.

Hiccup closed his sketchbook with a thump, put it back in his vest pocket and took a shallow breath of the putrid air. The Zippleback eggs he had just finished counting were in the part of the cave always obscured with the explosive gas from the second of the double heads that the multitude of Zippleback's possessed. Hiccup tried not to breathe too much in and escaped from the area as quickly as possible. When he was finally free of the clinging, choking green gas he sighed in relief and gulped in the clean, but dragon-scented air.

Hiccup saw a large rock and sat on it, stretching his arms and resting his aching legs. It had been six months, but his legs still ached from standing and walking. There were still nights were he would wake shivering and gasping as his leg throbbed in agony. He massaged his left leg just above the prosthetic and a bit of the pain ebbed away. He sighed and then went over all the areas he'd already checked for dragon eggs in his head. He grinned as he realized he was done with his half of the dragon cave and stretched back on the rock to relax before he had to go and meet up with Astrid and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.

Hiccup had insisted that he have someone come along and help him count the eggs. Astrid had happily volunteered. He had been adamant that it was for safety reasons – having another Viking around in case something should go wrong – instead of for being able to have as much time as he wanted alone with her. In the end, since no one else would do it and Hiccup did raise a valid point about someone being there to save him, Stoick had no choice but to allow Astrid to go along. He chuckled to himself, and sighed contentedly, looking forward to being alone with Astrid and just being able to talk and laugh without interruption. Toothless, who enjoyed annoying the other dragons in the cave, was polite enough to leave them alone.

Thinking of Toothless, the boy smiled to himself, reflecting that while he had lost something important, he had gained something even more important. He stared down at the metal portion of his left leg. Both he and Toothless were cripples and they needed each other. Alone they were broken, together they could do anything. Although Hiccup found that he and Toothless could do decently alone as well. _He may not be able to fly alone, but he can certainly run_ Hiccup thought to himself with a smile. The pain in his leg had finally lessened and though he immensely enjoyed being alone with Astrid, he didn't enjoy walking through the rocky, twisting tunnels to where they had agreed to meet. He groaned, but knew he would have to get up soon. If there was one thing the young Viking knew, it was that it was not smart to keep Astrid waiting.

Hiccup sat up and prepared himself to stand, gripping onto one of the rocks on the walls of the narrow pass just in front of him. He hoisted himself up, letting his leg adjust to the weight and slight pain and discomfort of the prosthetic, before walking through the narrow pass. As he exited the narrow section into a large clearing his prosthetic caught a stone and sent him tumbling to the ground. Luckily for him, the ground sloped away from the drop to the bottom of the deep abyss that surrounded the cave on one side.

Hiccup tumbled and didn't stop, heading right for a thick stone grey stone wall covered in shadow from the eerie glow of the abyss a few feet away. The boy managed to put his hands in front of his face and brace himself for the impact just before the stone wall met his body.

Except, instead of hitting the wall, he rolled through a cleverly concealed hole and into a huge, wide tunnel that sloped down steeply and ended in a sheer drop of five feet, before depositing him in a den. When Hiccup came back from the unconsciousness his wild ride had induced his head was throbbing and his body ached from scrapes and scratches. The world tilted away from him as he dizzily sat up. He clutched his head and realized that from his hair down to his chin on one side of his face was caked with a mixture of dragon feces, rotting meat, and urine soaked soil. He had gotten lucky and none of the horrid mixture had ended up in his ears, eyes, nose or mouth. He examined the rest of his body and found that he had rips throughout his tunic and vest in several places, cuts and scrapes all over his body and a bleeding wound on his elbow. He didn't bother trying to clean himself off; instead he worked on just standing up.

He was about to get up when he saw a strange sight that surprised him so much that he fell back onto his behind again. Through the thick darkness was a blue glow underneath a pile of ten, perfectly smooth, cylindrically shaped, pitch-black dragon eggs. Heat emanated from underneath the eggs making the den pleasantly warm. The glow from underneath the eggs cast dim, sickly shadows that danced across the walls and made it seem as though the darkness was pressing even closer.

Hiccup's breathe quickened and he fumbled with his vest, pulling out his pencil and sketchbook and opening a new page. He had never seen dragon eggs like that before and so he scribbled away; furiously trying to capture the aura of mystery and intrigue that surrounded the eggs onto the paper. He managed a decent rendering, even stopping to painstakingly scribble in the shadows, to create an effective replica of the scene playing before his eyes.

He felt a hot, putrid rush of air wash over him, just as he closed the sketchbook and looked up into the angry eyes of a Night Fury. Hiccup's heart hammered in his ears, as his eyes locked with intelligent, forest-green dragon eyes, and the world fell away. He managed to figure out that the Night Fury staring him down was not Toothless and was most likely a female whose nest he had stumbled upon.

He breathed quickly, almost hyperventilating, unable to pull his eyes away from the strong, fierce eyes of the female Night Fury staring him down. He moved slowly, knowing one wrong step could get him killed. He knew that there was nothing fiercer than a mother protecting her young. He managed to place his hand on the wall, but when he tried to stand the dragon growled and pulled his vest into her teeth. She shook him angrily, until he fell from the vest and hit the ground painfully. His sketchbook and pencil clattered out of his hand and onto the rocky floor. The female dragon threw his vest into the glow and it burst immediately into flames, filling the room with an intense and terrible heat.

Hiccup groped for his sketchbook and saw the female was distracted by the leaping flames that licked the roof where they escaped from the pile of eggs. He saw his chance and pulled the sketchbook tightly into his hands and stood up, ignoring the pain and dizziness and scrabbling up the steep wall to the tunnel as fast as he could. He managed to get in and scrabble part way up the dangerously steep slope before the Night Fury turned around and gave chase, angry that the boy had managed to elude her for even a moment.

A raw scream escaped Hiccup's throat as he crawled blindly through the tunnel as fast as he could, his hands cut and bleeding as he pulled himself up and across sharp stones. He burst through the hole and stopped for a moment to catch his breath, his bleeding hands and knees soaking through his clothes. He screamed again as the dragon came out behind him, and he tried to get to his feet.

He managed to stand and run awkwardly, but not even the adrenaline that caused his blood to course rapidly through his veins and quicken his heartbeat could give him enough speed to elude the angry dragon for a second time. He stumbled again, his already bloody hands leaving a mark on the ground where he tried to break his fall. He crawled on all fours as fast as he could, but the dragon grabbed his tunic along the seam and bit, trying to pull him up off the ground.

The flimsy seam ripped open and the rest of the tunic was shredded to useless pieces as the dragon's sharp teeth bit into them. She had managed to pull the Viking boy off the ground only a few feet before the tunic ripped and he fell uselessly back to the ground, his legs splayed apart and his empty hand feebly clawing the dull, rocky ground as he lay on his back staring at the ceiling. The dragon lunged. Hiccup managed to drag himself backwards and continued on like that as the dragon followed him.

Loose stones fell off the edge of the cliff as his hand fell into nothingness and his body dropped like a dead weight against what little stone remained underneath him.

"Dat, da, dah. I'm dead," Hiccup muttered thickly, gulping past the fear in his throat. He clenched his eyes shut and waited, waited for the dragon to toss him off the cliff and to his final resting place.

A few long seconds in silence, broken only by Hiccup's laboured breathing, passed before the boy cracked an eyelid open. Relief shot through him as he saw Toothless, standing on his hind legs and keeping his wings open broadly to shield his fragile human. Toothless growled at the other dragon, baring his teeth and indicating with his head towards Hiccup. The female gave a snort and backed down, and Toothless, satisfied with his dominance, fell back to a normal position as well. Then, to the young Viking's absolute surprise, the two dragons greeted each other warmly and nuzzled each other under the chin, giving playful nips every once and awhile.

"Wait," said Hiccup, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Toothless, is she the reason you've been disappearing lately?"

He thought back to the previous months. The first few times Toothless had only disappeared for a few hours, but as the months had gone by it had increased to full days. Hiccup even remembered waking up to dragon screeches one morning a couple months ago. The boy's face coloured as he realized what must have happened that morning and he tried to get up and go to his friend the Night Fury. Toothless' head came under Hiccups arms and he put his weight there, letting his dragon friend help him up.

"You're going to be a father, aren't you Toothless?" Hiccup questioned, as he shoved his sketchbook in his pants pocket, and then scratched Toothless in his favourite spot under his chin. The dragon only nodded.

"Congratulations buddy!" he exclaimed, trying not to fall as his knees wobbled under him.

Toothless gave him a gummy smile. He reacted quickly and caught the boy when his legs gave out from under him, from the stress, fear and injuries. Hiccup swung his left leg over Toothless and lay on top of the dragon as he tried to catch his breath.

**AN: Hey, first of all i'd like to say thanks to Annabeth the Unicorn for beta reading this! Second i'd like to give a shout out to my friend who gave me the idea for this fic, she asked me to write her a HTTYD story where Toothless had a girlfriend, and so i came up with this. I got carried away though, because there are still three or four more parts. Thanks for reading and i'd appreciate it if you left a review! Till next time!**


	2. Leaving the Nest

Chapter 2 – Leaving the Nest

Hiccup's eyes shot open and he panicked, his mind frantically trying to figure out where he was. Realization dawned on him – he was back in the dragon cave – and he calmed down, his racing heart pounding loudly through his chest. Toothless was underneath him, snuggled next to his mate in the warmth of the dragon cave. He perked one cat-like eye open when he felt his Viking friend jerk awake above him. The boy took in his surroundings and finally had time to examine the dragon den. He looked around, at the large cave that could comfortably fit five Night Furys, and at the tall sloping ceiling that he would have only been able to reach by standing on Toothless's back.

Calm once again, the Viking boy slid off his dragon's back and walked around the room. Toothless watched, puzzled as his boy examined the room. Hiccup gravitated slowly to the eggs, and flinched when Toothless gave a warning growl. He put his hands up in defence and approached the eggs slowly. The fire that had been burning under the eggs the first time he had been there was still going, giving enough illumination for Hiccup to see Toothless flash him a warning glare.

He stayed a foot away from the eggs and just watched. "They must have to be kept warm at all times," Hiccup spoke to himself, ignoring his dragon's eye roll and snort that seemed to say _well, duh!_

"Hiccup! Where in Odin's name are you!" Astrid's voice broke through his thoughts. He could tell she was far away, but her powerful voice still carried across the cave.

"Looks like it's time to go, buddy!" Hiccup said urgently.

He walked quickly to the entrance to the tunnel and reached up to pull himself up and out of the cave, expecting his Night Fury to be right behind him. He looked, crouching on the inside of the tunnel and saw Toothless staring forlornly at his mate, his big, green eyes sad and lonely.

Hiccup scrabbled down and scratched his dragon on the head. "You want to stay, don't you buddy?"

The Night Fury nodded.

_We only come to the cave once a month and Toothless can't fly alone. His mate probably can't come visit him for very long because of the eggs. They probably don't get to see each other very much. _Hiccup thought to himself.

"You should stay Toothless, at least for the night anyways," he murmured in a voice that prompted no argument.

"Hiccup!" he heard Astrid yell again, her voice somewhat closer. Toothless gestured to the cave exit.

"I'll be fine, Toothless. Astrid wouldn't kill me," he muttered, although his voice gave away his lack of confidence in his statement.

Toothless rolled his eyes as his boy left the cave, knowing just how stubborn he could be when he wanted. When the last trace of Hiccup disappeared he shuffled back beside his mate and closed his eyes, as his keen ears listened for the very loud conversation his boy would soon be having with his mate.

Hiccup walked through the long tunnel, hoping that Astrid wasn't nearly as angry as she sounded. His prosthetic clacked against the sharp stones below him and the sound bounced off the wall eerily. Step-clack, step-clack. He noticed much more, now that he wasn't crawling for his life in fear. The tunnel dripped water from the top, a plink-plink sound that filled the tunnel between his steps. The roof was as sharp as the stones below his aching foot. The tunnel wasn't as big as the boy had first thought, with room enough for him to stand up quite fine, but if his father were to come his head would begin to hit the sharp hangings of the roof. It was wide enough for a Night Fury to walk through but for some of the other dragon the tunnel would simply be too tight a squeeze. As he neared the hidden entrance, he realized his perceptions of that, too, had been wrong. It was only big enough for Toothless to slip through on all fours with a little space on top.

Hiccup got on his knees and slithered through the entrance and back into the dragon cave. Astrid was silhouetted in the eerie light, kneeling by the edge of the abyss and clutching the tattered remains of a Vikings boy's tunic, her body shaking almost unnoticeably. Hiccup stood up, and walked slowly behind her, trying his best not to startle her. His boot hit a rock and Astrid tensed, before turning and attacking in a flurry, double sided axe coming just short of Hiccup's face. The boy saw the tears held back fiercely at the corners of Astrid's eyes, before the axe came so close to his face that he could count every nick upon the metal.

Astrid stopped mid-swing, just as the axe reached past Hiccup's face. She froze for a split-second, mouth agape, taking in his dirty appearance. His hair was spiked up on one sided and caked with what looked like dried up mud on the other, there was blood dripping down his arm as it bled from the open wound on his elbow, cuts, scrapes and bruises adorning his naked chest and two bloody spots were soaked through his pants from his knees. His hands were bloody and rose in defence and sweat soaked every part of his body. Despite all of this, when Astrid realized who she was looking at she abandoned her axe and hugged him fiercely.

"Where in the name of the gods have you been?" she asked hoarsely, her hug nearly crushing the breath out of him.

She pulled away, and started yelling before he had time to answer. "Do have any idea how scared I was! It's hours past when you were supposed to meet me, I found your tunic in tatters and I heard you scream as if the Green Death itself had come back to life to kill you! Do you have any idea what your dad would do to me if you were dead! I'd never be able to show me face around the village again! By Helheim's Gate Hiccup, what were you thinking?"

"Astrid, Astrid, calm down," Hiccup said quickly.

"Calm down? I thought you were dead!" she screamed at him, her voice cracking and her tears finally trailing down her cheeks, before she slammed him hard on the top of the head with a fist. As hard as it was Hiccup could tell Astrid had softened the blow for him.

Hiccup's hand came to his head and he clutched the spot where a lump was already forming, as Astrid grabbed her carelessly abandoned axe and stormed away. He followed after her, nearly jogging to keep up to her quick pace, careful to avoid anything that would catch his prosthetic again.

Hiccup spotted Stormfly, waiting in the spot he had promised to meet Astrid in, patiently sitting and preening herself. He looked to Astrid and saw her hand, white-knuckled and still shaking, tightly grasping the axe handle. She wiped her eyes with her free hand.

"Astrid..." Hiccup began slowly.

She glared at him, red-eyed and angry, but let him continue.

"... I can explain," he finished gently.

The look she gave him was acid against his skin and he shivered, but held firm.

"Fine," she spat, pulling herself onto Stormfly without a backwards glance, "Go get Toothless and on the way back to Berk you can tell me all about it!"

"Toothless isn't coming," Hiccup explained, keeping his voice even and his eyes on the ground.

"What?" questioned the Viking girl in exasperation.

"I'll explain on the way," Hiccup replied, as he attempted to climb onto Stormfly's back.

Astrid sighed, and grabbed Hiccup's arm, swinging him into the saddle behind her, and preparing Stormfly for takeoff. Hiccup just managed to get seated properly in the saddle behind Astrid and place one hand carefully around her waist to hold on before Stormfly leapt into the sky.

For a moment both the young Vikings forgot what they had been arguing about as the always exciting thrill that came from flying took over them again. Despite how late they were to getting home to Berk, Hiccup and Astrid could not help but marvel at the red-orange sun that cast streaks across the sky and ocean as it set.

By the time Hiccup had finished explaining what had happened to him in the dragon cave Astrid was nearly doubled over in laughter atop Stormfly.

"Only you would fall into a female Night Fury's den!" she exclaimed through a fit of laughter, "I thought we agreed no more doing stupid things!"

"It wasn't stupid, it was an accident!" Hiccup yelled in annoyance, as he fidgeted upon the saddle. He kept trying – and failing – to get comfortable. Stormfly was not usually one to carry two riders, so her saddle wasn't as comfortable as Toothless' was. There was also the fact that he was trying to hang on, but not let his bloody hands stain Astrid's waist or stomach where he held onto. He could imagine explaining that to her father.

As he repositioned himself, behind a now serious Astrid, he noticed the soft, brown hairs on his bare arm were standing erect. He sucked in a deep breath and struggled to breathe through the humidity for a moment. He felt the hairs on his head begin to stand on end a bit. When he looked up he noticed the same happening to Astrid's hair, although to a much lesser extent because her hair was tightly bound in a braid that hung down across the small of her back. He looked up quickly, right into the a huge gathering of dark black clouds that looked as if they would release an ocean's worth of water at any moment. Electricity jumped through the air and Hiccup gulped. It had been a long time since Berk had seen a thunderstorm.

"Astrid," he had been going to say, but stopped when Stormfly dove so fast she knocked away his breath like a dragon knocking away old fish bones. No Viking had ridden a dragon through a thunderstorm before, but Hiccup and Astrid weren't crazy enough to try it. They dove straight for the nearest piece of land. Hiccup was relieved to see that it was Berk and not some strange island in the middle of the ocean.

They touched down hard and the jolt nearly caused Hiccup to fall off the dragon. Both Vikings slid off the Deadly Nadder and surveyed their surroundings. _We got lucky _Hiccup thought to himself, _we're only a short ways away from the village!_

Astrid patted the dragon on the neck and started forward, letting the Nadder fall in step behind her and Hiccup beside her. The Vikings did not have storms often, but they knew that the safest place was closest to the ground, a few very singed Vikings from the tall watch tower last storm had taught them as much, which was why Hiccup and Astrid did not ride the Nadder into Berk.

Eyes continually looking towards the black sky, the two Vikings made their way hurriedly to Berk. They were half way to their destination when the sky opened up and let loose the long held rain.

**AN: Here's the second chapter! There is definetly going to be 3 more chapters after this. Hope you enjoyed it! Favs and reviews are welcome and appreciatted! Thanks again to Annabeth the Unicorn for beta reading!**


	3. Back On Berk

Hiccup began shivering almost moments after the rain came. His metal limb squeaked as he walked, and goose pimples raised on his naked flesh, as drop after hard drop of rain pelted down onto him. The rain washed away the blood, and the grime, soaking it into his clothes, and seeping coldness past his skin and into his bones. His hair and clothes were pasted to his skin and he sighed, the rain deepening his bad mood. The sky crackled and lit up every few minutes, changing the black sky to gray. Everywhere Hiccup looked he saw grey, as though a wall of the color had been erected in front of him.

"It's official, the gods hate me!" Hiccup exclaimed through chattering teeth.

"The gods don't hate you, Hiccup," Astrid sighed, rolling her eyes.

Hiccup walked in silence for a few minutes more before he went down, his metal limb slipping in the mud. He landed perfectly in the mud puddle. He propped himself up and swore, then spit mud out of his mouth.

"Well, maybe the gods hate you a little," Astrid conceded as she helped her boyfriend up.

He spit again, and wiped his eyes and nose and stormed away from her – well, as best he could with one leg – through the blinding rain. Astrid stifled her laughter – barely – as she followed behind. She just managed to catch him before he fell into another mud puddle. The lightning flashed above them followed by a crack of thunder that drowned out what Astrid said next to Hiccup.

"What?" Hiccup yelled through another boom.

"Do want me to carry you?" Astrid had been going to ask jokingly, when a tree not even ten feet away from her burst apart as lightning struck it. It started aflame for a few moments, but was put out quickly by the rain.

Hiccup gulped and inched closer to Astrid.

"Oh, don't be a baby, it's just a bit of lightning," Astrid jabbed weakly, her shaky voice revealing that she was just as – if not more – scared of the lightning as Hiccup.

Hiccup grabbed her hand. "Let's get back to the village! Fast!"

Astrid nodded, only too happy to comply with his suggestion.

They quickened their pace substantially, both thankful for the well-worn path beneath their feet. The path was the only thing keeping them in heading in the right direction; the rain was so thick it was too easy to get lost. Hiccup couldn't see a foot in front of him, and he was glad to be holding Astrid's hand so as not to get separated. He felt around and settled his hand on Stormfly's flank beside him.

They walked that way for a short while before the soft, muddy path beneath their feet became the solid rock path of the village. Both teens sighed in relief and looked up. They could see nothing through the black haze of rain. The lightning was slowing down which left the two Vikings further fumbling in the darkness descended upon them. They let their feet guide them, Astrid had been going to Hiccup's house long enough that she knew the way there blind, Hiccup was the same, he had lived there his whole life, after all.

Hiccup hit the first stair that lead to his house with his foot before he realized it was there. His shoulders slumped – stairs were always a little bit difficult – and he made his way up the hill towards his house. Astrid bade her dragon to go and find a place out of the rain; Stormfly squawked in annoyance at abandoning her rider just once before she took off at a run for shelter. Astrid headed up the stairs to where Hiccup was waiting for her, the sloping roof on his house keeping him partly dry. She was hoping to say goodbye to him first before going back to her house – no matter how late she was. More specifically, it was the way she wanted to say goodbye to Hiccup that made her not care if she was late.

When she reached Hiccup he smiled. And then his stomach gurgled loudly. He blushed in embarrassment, as his aching hunger now made its presence known, while Astrid simply stood by him and smirked. Thinking about it, she too realized she was hungry; it had been hours since either of them had last eaten. Hours since they were supposed to be back too...

She cast that thought away from her for the time, forbidding her mind from wondering how worried her parents were and how much trouble she would likely be in when she got home.

"Hiccup," she started seductively, pressing herself close to him, so that his back was up against the wall of his house.

She let her finger trail across his cheek, smiling as his body shuddered under her touch, "We never did get to spend any time together in the dragon cave. _Alone._"The way she spoke that last word nearly drove the boy mad. She decided not to make the boy suffer any longer.

She pressed her lips to his and he returned the gesture with enthusiasm that equalled her own. Then they were kissing passionately and Hiccup was fighting her for dominance. It was the only time he actually fought to be better than her at something. She didn't realize both of her hands were clutching his bare shoulders tightly – almost too tightly – or that his hands were resting on the small of her back and playing with her braided hair or even that she'd wrapped one leg around his waist, the metal spikes of her skirt digging into his legs.

They broke contact – too soon to both Vikings' dismay – and caught their breath. Hiccup found that, even though he was standing half naked in the freezing rain, he was all too warm. Astrid broke their embrace and smiled at him. He gave a sigh and kissed her on the nose. He didn't have to say goodbye; that kiss said it for him without words. He sighed again, turned to his door and walked into a wall. Or so he thought.

He let out an _oof _sound as he slammed against the solid object. He was sure that the door was farther away than that. He looked up, rubbing his nose, and saw that what he had ran into was no wall. It was the barrel chest of a very fearsome, but respected, Viking, who had a head of light blond hair and a plaited beard to match. Hiccup gulped and looked into the piercing blue eyes of Avnar Hofferson.

The village called him Avnar the Strong, because he showed no weakness, and had little respect for those who did. Hiccup didn't like him. The sentiment was mutual. Hiccup couldn't kill a dragon. Hiccup couldn't even lift an axe for Thor's sake! Hiccup was a talking fishbone who let his idiotic emotions get in the way of instinct. Therefore he was weak. But that wasn't why he disliked – no, despised – the boy.

He hated Hiccup most of all for what he did to Astrid. She had been perfect. Top of her class, the best at dragon fighting, and – what made her father the proudest – she showed no weakness. Then the boy had come along and something changed in her. Suddenly she wasn't training as hard as before and blathered on about some useless nonsense to her mother about how Hiccup – how he despised that boy – had showed her it was okay to have feelings and to be merciful. He had ordered her to stop the nonsense, but her strong will and temper were still in play, and she openly defied him. His wife was of no help in the matter.

She just shook her head when he brought it up and chided "Avnar Hofferson, I can't believe you! Look how happy Astrid is! And besides that boy will make a fine chief, you couldn't ask for any better husband!"

He glared darkly at the boy standing in front of him, and as the storm raged above him, lightning struck and flashed off his eyes, making Hiccup think the man was possessed. Then it passed and he was normal again.

"Hi, mister Hofferson," Hiccup muttered weakly, giving a nervous wave as he tried to skirt around the Viking and escape into the safe confines of his home. The door was open behind the fierce Viking, and a yellow glow from what could only be the massive fire place in Hiccup's home lit the doorway.

"Hiccup?" Came a booming voice, followed by the familiar face of Stoick the vast. Whatever animosity there was between Avner and Hiccup, it wouldn't be acknowledged when Stoick was around. Stoick bristled when he saw that it was, undoubtedly, Hiccup standing just past the doorway. His eyes scrutinized Hiccup swiftly, taking in his dishevelled, dirty and damp appearance. He snorted, and Hiccup could see the carefully restrained anger in his movements.

He looked at Hiccup pointedly and the boy gulped, before getting inside as fast as he could. Stoick watched Avnar glare as Hiccup entered the house, and he noticed, buried beneath a mask of indifference, was a cold fury and deep loathing of the russet haired boy. His sight travelled to Astrid and his gaze softened. She was standing on the porch, holding back from yelling out defiantly. Even she knew her place when it came to the chieftain, knew that outright defiance towards him was not a good idea. Through her unvoiced annoyance Stoick saw a deep rooted respect for him. He had to admit she was strong, standing there, on the porch as her father stared her down, her body rigid to keep from succumbing to the shivers that should have taken her long ago.

"Why don't you come in and warm up a bit?" he said in a way that was more gentle command than suggestion.

Avnar glared at Stoick then, but conceded and entered the chieftain's home. Astrid followed her father, silent thanks and relief evident in her eyes.

Hiccup was too busy enjoying his house to notice the exchange between the three. He moaned happily as the warm air from the fire place chased away the cold from his body. He took in a long breath and with it the smell of salted meat. He turned and his stomach flipped and growled when he saw a pot of stew, still warm above the fire. Mouth watering, he walked forward to appease his newly awoken hunger, when a meaty hand clamped down on his shoulder.

He jumped, afraid it was Avnar the Strong, but he stopped just in time when he realized it was only his father. His father swung him around and suddenly he was beside Astrid, facing the intense scrutiny of both the adult Vikings.

"Great Odin's ghost, where in the name of Valhalla have you been Hiccup!" Stoick exploded without warning. "It's at least an hour past sunset and ye have made Astrid's family worried as well as mine! What could you have possibly been doing for that long?"

He took a deep breath and continued, in a voice much more controlled – although still as angry – than before, "Why are you so dirty? And what happened to your shirt?"

Before that last word from Stoick was even finished Avnar had tensed and his eyes had become thin slits against his beefy face. In the light of the fire he noticed something he had missed when the two teens had been standing previously on the balcony. Blood. It was soaked completely into Hiccup's pants and Astrid had a pale spot of washed-out blood on her shirt. The boy was shirtless and they had been gone for hours. He had seen the way they had kissed, hungrily, passionately, Astrid's leg curled around the boy's waist. Avnar was of average intelligence, but it only took him a moment to come to a conclusion that sent his hand to the hilt of the mighty sword strapped to his waist.

The sword wasn't there. He then remembered that he had dropped it off with Gobber the blacksmith and wished he had held out for one more day. He curled his hands into fists, knowing they could well accomplish the goal he sought. All this happened in just mere moments after Stoick spoke.

Without warning – without even a sound – Avnar was going for Hiccup. The boy ducked, getting away by luck only. Although Avnar's fist connected to the stone wall behind the boy with a satisfying _crunch_, it stopped him for only a moment. He tried to scream, but it came out as a pathetic gurgle in his throat as he rushed towards Hiccup again. The boy knew he would not be so lucky this time.

Avnar had brought his fist around so it would connect with the side of the boy's face, but Stoick got in the way, throwing his arm up as a shield. The two forces – fist and arm – connected, the latter rock solid, the other slightly unbalanced. Stoick's arm didn't even move an inch as the connecting fist ground to a halt against it. Hiccup peered through his fingers, then slowly removed his hands that he had been shielding his face with and peered cautiously at his attacker. All restraint was gone, with only pure fury in its place. Hiccup gulped.

"Avnar," began Stoick through gritted teeth, "there had better be a very good reason why you attacked my son!"

Avnar glared at Hiccup, and then grumbled, meeting the eyes of the chieftain with only a moment's hesitation. "Don't you see the blood, Stoick? Shouldn't it be obvious? Or is your instinct to protect your son clouding your sight?"

Stoick shook his head, still completely lost as to what Avnar was talking about. Avnar rounded on Astrid and began yelling again, drowning out the question that had been poised on Stoick's tongue.

"The only way that skinny little baby you call your boyfriend could do that to you is if you let him! He would only do it if you encouraged him! What were you thinking! You're not even an adult yet!"

Hiccup, Stoick and Astrid all wore the same look of confusion upon their faces. Astrid's expression though, had mostly hardened to anger and defiance, despite the fact that the man yelling at her was twice her size and, in a sense, her owner until she married.

Stoick stepped in front of Avnar again. "What are you talking about?" the chieftain demanded.

Avnar looked ready to punch Stoick in the nose, but he wisely thought better of it. "I am talking about the fact that those two," he gestured to Hiccup and Astrid, "were obviously in the woods, doing things impure things that shouldn't be done until marriage! Why else would they be gone so long? It's obvious the rain drove them home before the boy could look presentable again!"

Realization dawned on Stoick, and he turned to his red-faced son, looking him over to find that Avnar did have a likely assumption. He looked to Astrid, her arms crossed, a faint smile of amusement gracing her face.

"Dad, dad! That's not what happened at all! I swear!" Hiccup shouted hurriedly.

"Then you might want to explain what did!"

He offered each of the others a chair and took one himself, then poured a cup of mead for each of them and sipped it slowly as Hiccup recounted his day.

Stoick was laughing, and Avnar was gaping in disbelief when Hiccup had finally finished his tale. The other adult could hardly fathom that anyone could have bad luck enough, or ill-favour of the gods enough, for all that to happen. Grumbling to himself, Avnar pushed himself out of the chair, still skeptical about the truth of what had happened. He could see that he wouldn't win if he pressed the doubt further.

He said no words, instead glaring pointedly at Astrid and motioning to the door. She glared back, then, before anyone realized what was happening, she was kissing Hiccup again.

Hiccup knew she was doing it only to spite her father, and he felt the strain behind it, but he enjoyed it none the less. Then Astrid walked out of the chieftain's house and into the still pouring rain as fast as before, a triumphant smile across her face.

Avnar fumed, but followed his daughter out without a sound or backward glance to either of the two males left in the house. The door slammed loudly behind him and then there was only silence.

"So, Toothless is going to be a father," Stoick started, his tone implying bad news.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied carefully, wondering where the conversation was going.

"Listen, son, we barely have enough room for Toothless, how are we supposed to fit eleven more into the house? How are we supposed to feed them? Berk is almost starving with the amount of food it's giving to the dragons!"

"What are you saying?" Hiccup asked, struggling to keep his voice even.

"I'm saying they need to live and eat somewhere else, Hiccup! Didn't I just say the village is almost starving! They need to hunt for themselves and start pulling some of the weight!"

"Do not blame this on Toothless!" Hiccup exploded, finally releasing his bottled emotions, "He's one of the rarest species of dragons, so of course he'd want to be with one of his own kind! And aren't you the one who's always sneaking Toothless extra food even when you scold me for doing it! And he's my best friend, so there's no way I'm gonna tell him he can't have a family!"

"Hiccup, calm down!" Stoick demanded in reply, "All I'm saying is that I will not allow the village to starve because that scaly beast of yours decided to go have a bunch of babies!"

"Fine!" Hiccup replied angrily, hurt evident in his eyes. He pulled his sketchbook out of his pants pocket and flung it across the table to his father. "There's your stupid list of dragon eggs!" he shouted.

Hiccup snorted and then stormed up the stairs to his room, slamming his door on the way. His father sighed and then went to bed himself.

Hiccup barely slept that night.

**AN: Again, as before, thanks to Annabeth the Unicorn for betaing. Also this will probably be the longest chapter of all of them. I hope you enjoyed reading this, because i enjoyed writing it! Oh, and i fixed the suck-ish summary!**


	4. The Morning After

Chapter 4 – The Morning After

Toothless' head followed his boy as he paced the cove. His mate's warm flank was pressed against him and he could feel every soft breath that she took. He let out a sigh contentedly and laid his head next to her sleeping one as he watched his boy angrily kick the large jutting rock his mate had been sitting on that fateful day the boy took her flying. He chuckled in that breathless way of his and gave an innocent smile when the boy glared at him. He closed his eyes and relaxed for a time, allowing the sounds and the soft breeze to lull him into a light slumber.

Hiccup was angry. He hadn't had time to have a bath and clean himself properly yet, his head itched fiercely where it had been caked with the foul substances, his foot that he had kicked the rock with was on fire with pain and, what made him angriest of all, was the conversation he'd had with his father the night previous. The worst part was that he knew his father was right. His father had a valid point and Hiccup understood that he needed to protect the village. But he still felt angry.

Toothless was like a brother to him, it wasn't fair the dragon shouldn't be surrounded by the creatures he cared about. He kicked the rock again and bit back a cry of pain, his body still sore from the previous night. He grumbled to himself, but couldn't shake the anger from his body. His father was so stubborn sometimes! _If Toothless' mate and her babies can't stay with us, then where will they stay? Who will feed them? How will Toothless be able to see them?_

The questions frustrated him and he sat on the rock that he had kicked his good foot against to think. One thing Hiccup was good at was over thinking the past, and trying to change it when he knew he couldn't no matter how much he tried. He sighed and managed to achieve a deep level of concentration and think through the questions, at least for a few moments. Maybe he could sneak Brighteyes into the forge. But then where would her hatchlings stay? He could bribe Snotlout with his father's mead to allow Brighteyes to stay at his house or to have him feed the dragons, but how long could that last before falling apart? Hiccup sighed and thought harder.

It was only a short time later that he felt a familiar rush of warm air wash over him. His heart leapt and terror fully over-took his mind as the memories of the wild chase in the dragon cave flashed through his brain. He looked up, straight into the proud, calm eyes of Toothless. Hiccup nearly fainted from relief.

Toothless stared down at his boy in amusement, smiling his gummy smile, his mate coming up behind him. The boy had seemed agitated and he had come behind him hoping to make him feel better, but instead his boy had flinched and panicked and was now staring at him frozen. It was, in the end though, his mate that brought the boy to life again. She gave him a lick up his face that made his hair stick straight up. At first the boy did nothing, then a smile broke across his face and he laughed. Toothless looked to his mate and he saw the same devilish glint that was probably shining in his own eyes.

Toothless pounced, knocking the boy to the ground and wiping away his smile. A smug smirk crossed his face as he met the annoyed stare of the boy beneath him. Then he licked the boy's soft, odd tasting face. The boy laughed and finally understood that it was a game. Toothless snorted, he loved Hiccup, but once in awhile the boy could be quite thick. He let the boy up and his mate charged after him, and the boy ran, laughing all the while, as he tried to hopelessly evade the female Night Fury. He watched for awhile and was about to join in when the wind changed and the scent of his boy's mate caught his nose.

Mud. Astrid absolutely hated it. It stuck to her boots and weighed them down and soaked through until her feet were frozen and forming blisters. She didn't mind rain, it cleaned things up and left Berk green for a while, but the mud that came from the rain was a nuisance, making training and even walking more difficult. The night previous had been fine, the rain hadn't soaked in yet and Hiccup was the only one falling into mud puddles. But right that moment in the muddy forest, that was what she hated. She was walking towards the clearing she knew Hiccup would be in. She knew he was distressed. The few moments she had seen him for before he and Snotlout had gone to the dragon cave to get Toothless told her as much. He had been tripping and stuttering more than usual and his eyes had black circles under them as if he hadn't slept a day in his life.

Astrid rolled her shoulders, trying to work out the stiffness that her extra training that morning had brought on. She always pushed herself as hard as she could, always trying to reach perfection, but that morning she had pushed herself even harder. Her father had yelled at her the previous night after they had got home and reminded her that Hiccup was weak and that no daughter of his would ever be weak. His words still burned inside her, echoing constantly through her. The extra training had been part defiance, part need to prove those words wrong.

When she had started on the walk to the clearing she had been going to see if Hiccup was still upset. Her relationship with Hiccup had grown in six months to the point where they weren't just kissing and spending time together romantically, but also talking to each other and just being together. Hiccup reminded her every day of what he had showed her on their first flight together, that it was okay to be weak and to show that weakness, that sometimes mercy was the greatest strength of all and that even though something had been done one way for hundreds of years it didn't mean it was right. Sometimes he said things that were very corny, but sweet none the less and often times he lay on the ground looking at the sky and he would make her do the same, and then they would just talk, sometimes about important things and sometimes about nothing at all. If something was wrong Hiccup could tell her and she would be there for him. For Astrid it was the same, though often times Hiccup needed to coax it out of her.

As she had walked through the forest she had time to think, and that, she knew, was sometimes not a good thing. That was why she loved training, because she could push her thoughts out of her mind for a long time. The more she had thought the angrier she had become. It was all Hiccup's fault that her father had yelled at her again. Things had been hard already, what with the dragons and Avnar's constant thoughts of Stoick going soft. Her father didn't agree with the dragon training and it was only her level-headed, commanding mother that allowed her to keep Stormfly. Seeing the way she had kissed Hiccup and her ready defiance had pushed her father over the edge. By the time Astrid got to the cove she had forgotten everything except her anger towards Hiccup.

Searching the landscape, her eyes locked onto his moving form immediately. He was running in his odd way, a dragon chasing after him, chuckling escaping his throat and filling the air. The dragon pounced and landed on top of him, licking his face as he laughed. Astrid stopped where she stood, as her anger multiplied and mixed with jealousy at the sight she was seeing.

Hiccup would be chieftain in a few years and yet there he was running around acting like a foolish little child. He practically had his life handed to him while everyone else – her included – had to struggle and fight their way to the top. His father was proud of him, the village was in awe of him, the other Vikings were his friends and his dragon was the rarest of them all. His life was perfect and yet he still acted like an idiot. _Why does he get to be imperfect, why does he get to be a child and act as if there is nothing difficult in the world?_ Astrid asked herself. No answer came to mind and that made her angrier still. She dug her fingers into her hand until her knuckles were completely white.

She looked at the Night Fury licking Hiccup, and her mood changed to a mixture of sadness tinged with bitter jealousy. Even his dragon had a good life, he had a girlfriend and soon he would have ten baby dragons that would come to Berk and make Hiccup even more noticed than before.

"Your family just keeps growing!" she muttered bitterly towards Hiccup, as she glared darkly at the ground.

"_Our_ family just keeps growing," he corrected her, as his warm, rough fingers intertwined with her own. She looked up, knowing when she looked him in the eyes she would see what he really thought.

She was not at all surprised when she looked into his eyes and saw admiration and a love that went far deeper than any of the other Vikings thought. It was clear to her that that Hiccup meant everything he had told her with – and without – words.

What he had said to her had been sweet, but corny. It was the words he hadn't said, the words between the words, the words he'd taught her how to find that made her smile.

Hiccup let his goofy grin pass serenely across his face when Astrid finally smiled. He could tell she was still angry and hurting, though. A devilish idea came to mind and then a mischievous smile crossed his face.

Astrid knew that smile. She glared at Hiccup. "Hiccup, you better not be planning what I think you're planning!" she warned angrily, poking him hard on the chest.

The brunette simply laughed. Then he pounced, his prosthetic nearly slipping on the muddy ground as it launched him into the air.

Before Astrid had time to realize what was happening, she was on the ground and Hiccup was on top of her. She got one last look at the devilish smile on his face before he moved his fingers quickly across her sides and sent her into a fit of laughter.

Astrid inwardly cursed as she tried to shake Hiccup off. She managed to roll away a bit and bring him with her, but that only made it worse, because she ended up in a mud puddle. She tried to stifle the laughter while she cursed inwardly even more. She cursed the mud staining her hair and clothes, she cursed her body, but mostly she cursed Hiccup for finding out she was ticklish that time long ago. Finally her concentration broke and she let out a long laugh, and then Hiccup tickled her faster until she was laughing without holding back. It felt nice, Astrid decided, to be laughing.

Hiccup looked at Astrid and saw her smiling and laughing and he was glad that he could be the one to make that happen. He liked Astrid's laugh. He paused for a second to drink it in. That was his first mistake.

Astrid noticed Hiccup pause and took the opening, rolling Hiccup over until she was on top of him. In a rare burst of energy, he fought back against her grip. They rolled for awhile, and Astrid seized the advantage again by tickling Hiccup's knees. He laughed and she rolled him over and slammed him into the mud puddle she had just been in. Hard.

"You're dead, Hiccup!" she exclaimed threateningly, but Hiccup knew she wasn't serious. Both of them were panting and covered in mud, but then Astrid laughed and, even though she was straddling him while he was on his back, she grabbed his tunic and pulled his face close to hers. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Hiccup nodded, hoping Astrid didn't see his fingers crossed behind his back. She let him fall back into the mud and was about to tickle him again when a feathery touch of air trickled across her neck. She turned and stared into the eyes of a Night Fury. A low growl was coming from the dragon's throat, and it wasn't Toothless.

Astrid, practiced at fighting and assessment, let her eyes dart across the dragon's form. Longer wings than Toothless and a leaner, more supple body, combined with eyes of a darker green than she had seen before, told her this was the female Night Fury that Toothless had taken to calling his mate.

"Whoa, whoa, it's okay, Brighteyes," Hiccup stated calmly, as he slithered out from underneath Astrid. He stood by the dragon and scratched her chin, "Astrid was just playing; she's a friend."

Brighteyes let a purr of contentment leave her throat, before bouncing excitedly to Astrid and licking her. She cringed and Brighteyes licked her whole face until it was dripping with saliva. Then the dragoness bounded away behind Hiccup, so her mischief wouldn't get her hurt.

Astrid was fuming, trying to wipe the saliva off her face and swearing at the dragoness. Hiccup laughed, standing in front of Toothless and Brighteyes while Astrid glared at him.

"Shouldn't she be watching her eggs? And Brighteyes, really, that's the best you could come up with!" Astrid yelled in exasperation, stumbling towards the pond to wash the saliva off her face.

"Your dragons are disgusting!" Hiccup heard Astrid mutter, to which Toothless growled indignantly.

When she came back, clean but wet, arms folded across her chest, a pointed glare aimed at him, it was clear she still expected an answer.

"Well, I would've come up with something better to call her but the narrator sucks at coming up with names..." Astrid was about to ask what he was talking about, but when she realized he himself didn't know, she just let him continue on unheeded.

"...And Snotlout's watching the eggs."

"But I saw Fireworm on my way here!" Astrid protested.

"Fireworm came back, but Snotlout didn't. It wasn't really a personal choice," Hiccup remarked dryly.

"You left him there?" Astrid asked amusedly.

"Well, he has food and water, and besides a little time alone will help him come up with some better pick up lines!" Hiccup stated, matter-of-factly.

"You sound like you _want _him to get together with me!" She jabbed him on the chest and flicked his chin when he looked down.

He grumbled in annoyance and flashed an evil glare. Astrid just stood there, smug smile upon her face, her arms crossed across her chest. Hiccup tried to be angry at her, but sighed instead, as his body sagged as the good feelings he had previously were gone, and his previous rage eluded him.

Astrid's blue eyes softened and she watched as Hiccup took on the look she had seen in him in the soft, early light of the long gone morning.

"Hiccup... what happened?" She asked, forcing the hard edge that was usually always present in her voice away. She reached out, smiling softly at him, placing a hand over his heart and feeling it beat through the green fabric that obscured his chest.

_Tell me, Hiccup! _Astrid silently urged him.

Then _plop; _a rain drop exploded when it hit her nose.

Astrid looked angrily to the sky and growled, knowing that one drop of rain always lead to another. She wondered whether it would be smarter to find shelter somewhere nearby or risk flying their dragons through the rain. Her question was answered a moment later by Toothless and Brighteyes.

The two dragons' seemed subdued, the excited fire in their bellies extinguished by the rain pelting down. They seemed tired, unhappy, just like the two humans in the clearing were feeling.

A low growl escaped Toothless' throat. The cold, hard drops of water pelted across him and rolled off his scales. He looked to his mate and saw the same annoyance that he felt clouding her light eyes. Looking to his boy and the boy's mate, her saw that the furs they wore were soaked. Both of their bodies were shaking and Toothless understood that it was the water falling from the sky that made their bodies shiver like that. His own body was unaffected, even if the falling drops were slightly annoying. He spread his wings out, flexing them, testing them against the air. He noticed that all the drops ran off his wings and the ground underneath felt no water at all. A plan formulated in his brain and he communicated it to his mate who nodded. She spread her wings out until one of hers overlapped with his.

Toothless looked at his boy who seemed to be arguing with his mate. He retracted his teeth and then clamped his gums around the boy's arm and dragged him under the outstretched wings, happy that he could stop his boy from shaking as he was.

Hiccup was confused for a moment and then it clicked in his brain. Astrid was staring at him incredulously, her mouth hanging open, and allowing a few well placed drops of water to enter. She had been about to yell at him for not answering her question when Toothless had yanked him under his wing.

"Thanks, buddy," Hiccup said quietly, a soft smile breaking across his face, "you too, Brighteyes!" He gave each of them a scratch under the chin.

"Yeah, thanks," Astrid murmured, coming to stand beside Hiccup under the dragons' wings.

Then they all started walking.

Brighteyes had easily understood _what_ they were doing, the real question was _why_? Weren't the fleshy boy and his mate smart enough to take care of themselves? She growled her annoyance to the dragon that would remain her mate for life. He growled back, reminding her exactly what the boy meant to him. That was why they were slowly trotting through the water that subdued the fire in their bellies and angrily bounced of their backs. They were doing it because the boy was as close to her mate as two baby dragons born to the same litter could ever be. They were doing it for the girl because she was important to the boy. And so the boy and girl became important to Brighteyes.

"...And of course my father sees how much I spoil Toothless..." the dragon indignantly snorted at that, "...and the way the other villagers spoil their dragons, and to him, because he needs to take care of the village, he sees it as a bad thing. He also said we have no room in our house for eleven more dragons and well... he's right on both accounts. I do spoil Toothless, and it's hard for him to hunt alone, and Brighteyes, well, she's not going to be able to hunt for a couple months because she'll be taking care of the hatchlings! But even though I know he's right it still makes me mad!"

Astrid nodded, reflecting on what Hiccup said, as the rain rhythmically pounded on above them. He had finally told her what had happened the night before. Astrid thought back to all the times she had given treats to Stormfly. While it was nowhere near as much as what Hiccup gave Toothless, it would sometimes add up to at least four fish a day as treats between hunting trips. She tried to keep her dragon as fit as possible, even though it was very vain. But despite that she couldn't help but praise Stormfly and give her treats when she zealously surpassed her expectations. She imagined the whole village doing that and then she understood why Stoick would say what he had. She also knew that while they now had more time to do other things because they weren't killing dragons, they also had more important things to do than fish all day.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" she asked him, as the group of four walked along. While they managed to stay dry under the dragons' wings the ground was wet and their feet were absolutely soaked. They were walking through mud again and every few minutes Hiccup had to stop and pull to remove his prosthetic which had caught in the thick, sucking mud. It was even worse than the mud the night previous.

"I don't know," he replied, dreading the thought of going home and speaking with his father again. He'd left the house before the sun had risen so he wouldn't have to talk to his father. Though he knew he would have to go back eventually – especially because of how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten since a quick breakfast that morning.

Suddenly Hiccup realized the patter of rain had lessened and as they continued walking it died completely and the clouds broke a tiny bit, letting in the afternoon sun. Hiccup let a smile cross his face.

Toothless and Brighteyes, aware the rain was over, flapped their wings and shook off the water stuck on some of their scales. Hiccup laughed, throwing his arms up to stop himself from getting even wetter. He frowned, trying to throw the extra water off.

Brighteyes stared towards the bright ball in the sky that was emerging from the grey and knew that it was growing late, and that soon the fire under her eggs would go out. She looked in the direction she knew the cave was in and roared in distress. The boy and girl turned towards her quickly, not understanding what was going on. Then it dawned on the boy and he turned to the girl, communicating to her in his raspy growl. They both climbed hurriedly onto her mate and then he told her what was going on. Somehow, even though the boy spoke in an incoherent growl, her mate could understand what he was saying. Their bond was truly strong.

Her mate told her that she needed to find the dragon that started itself on fire and take him to the cave with her so that he could take home the boy that smelled of rotten fish. As they took to the sky, the noise of the boy controlling her mate's tail ringing in her ears, she nodded her agreement.

The metallic squeak that assaulted his ears every time he switched positions on Toothless' tail reminded Hiccup that he needed to oil it. Astrid's arms were wrapped around his waist and she was leaning her head on one of his shoulders, eyes closed, and breathing slow and soft. The wind was perfect now that the rain had died and Toothless soared calmly and effortlessly. Hiccup felt so peaceful he had trouble keeping his eyes open. At least until they began nearing the village.

Then Brighteyes soared ahead of the other dragon challenging him to his limits. He did a hard bank left and almost clipped Brighteyes wings. She snorted. _Is that the best you can do? _She challenged.

Then Toothless, forgetting he had Vikings on his back, went all out.

It was the upward corkscrew Toothless did that jerked her awake. Her head flew up, her arms tightened around Hiccup's waist and she tightened her legs around the saddle as Toothless turned into a loopy-dee-loop. Her breath caught in her throat and for a short moment she was lifted off the seat along with Hiccup. Although _she_ wasn't strapped to the saddle like Hiccup was. Then they were coming back around and they both thumped back onto the saddle as the world righted itself. Then Astrid had the misfortune of being present while Toothless did a barrel roll. And then, the worst of all, he took a detour towards the ocean and dove straight down into it, and rising back into the air only seconds before Hiccup and herself ran out of air.

Panting heavily as the dragon righted itself and grinned at his impressed mate, she noticed they were finally over the village. She watched as the female Night Fury peeled away at the sight of the Monstrous Nightmare, Fireworm. Toothless barked a goodbye and then turned to the village to land.

When they were still a few feet off the ground Astrid jumped off and ran for her house. "See ya!" she yelled.

When Hiccup looked towards Astrid's house he could see why she had run off like that. Her father was coming down the path to his house and considering she was in hot water with him already he figured it was a good idea for her to be home when he got there. Toothless turned his head to Hiccup and looked at him questioningly.

"Sure, I'd _love _to injure myself even worse!" Hiccup exclaimed sarcastically.

Toothless landed hard on the ground in front of Hiccup's house and the boy unbuckled himself and slid awkwardly off his dragon's back.

He sighed and looked towards his house. He had talked with Astrid, spent time with Brighteyes and taken a wild flight with Toothless. He had no duties at the forge to attend to either, which meant he had no excuse to not go inside and talk to his dad.

"Looks like I should apologize for exploding, huh?" Hiccup murmured, as he patted his dragon on the head.

Toothless just nodded solemnly and then left the boy to face his father. Hiccup pushed open the door slowly, peeking inside. He didn't see anyone. He looked around the disorganized house, with drawings and plans scattered everywhere and a bubbling pot on the hearth. He licked his lips, sniffing in the deep scent of Pacific Cod, and listened as his stomach rumbled. The cod was probably as tough and tasteless as the Vikings who caught it, but he was feeling optimistic enough to hope that maybe this would be one of the few occasions his father used spices to flavour the tasteless cod.

He grabbed a bowl and dug deep into the pot, spooning as many fish as possible into his bowl as he could for his late lunch. He turned to sit at the table and dig into the food, but when he turned around his father was already sitting there. Stoick had pushed the papers clear of the table and was sitting clutching a mug of mead in his muscled hands.

"Hiccup..." he muttered darkly.

"Yeah..."

"Sit son."

Hiccup sat clutching his bowl with both hands, fiddling with the fork he had grabbed, unable to make eye contact with his dad.

"Eat, you're going to need your strength."

Hiccup did as he was bidden and soon he was eating so fast he was almost choking. "Why?" he managed to force through a mouthful of food.

Hiccup finally looked up and saw his father smiling at him, his towering figure looming menacingly as he stood next to the boy. Hiccup swallowed, distractedly, wondering how the man had gotten up without his knowledge.

"Well, you don't want to be hungry when you're making the house big enough for the dragoness and her babies, now do you?" he asked, an amused tone present in his voice.

The boy's eye widened and he smiled. "Thanks, dad!" he yelled, leaping up to hug the man. It was a few seconds before he remembered that Vikings didn't hug. He pulled away, quickly clearing his throat and sticking out his hand. "Thanks, dad," he said in a manly a voice as he could muster.

Stoick laughed good-naturedly, and pulled his son into a bear hug, only letting him go after messing up his hair. "Gobber got all the stuff you need at the forge. You better get going if you want to get a good start before sunset."

Hiccup beamed and almost ran out of the house. Then he remembered that mixing running and stairs was a dangerous idea and walked only until he reached the bottom. Then he ran off to the forge as fast as he could possibly go.

Stoick watched from the window, remembering his own determination as a boy, albeit for an entirely different reason. His son was different, passionate, but determined. He certainly made village life interesting. He smiled to himself, proud he had found another thing he could brag about to the other village men about his son.

Hiccup was overloaded with supplies: carrying boards, a hammer, buckets of nails balanced on his arms and mortar for the rock foundation. He panted, his prosthetic slipping on the still wet ground. His balance shifted and the boards he was carrying tipped and threatened to slip from his grip.

Suddenly, the board stopped tipping and was solid. Hiccup looked and saw his cousin grinning cockily at him.

"Whatcha' buildin' cous?" he asked, pulling the board into his own arms.

"Well," Hiccup grunted, "Dad basically told me if I expanded the house myself then Brighteyes and her babies could stay."

"So you made up with him then?"

"Yeah, I guess I did," Hiccup murmured, as he remembered his conversation with his cousin earlier.

_Snotlout was laughing to himself, bragging and boisterously telling dumb jokes. He was doing fancy tricks in the sky and flying loops around his cousin. So far his jabs had been ineffective. _

_"Hey, Hiccup! I think imma gonna take your girl for a spin, how bout that?" _

_Hiccup just flew on yawning loudly, then returning to staring angrily at the empty sky ahead._

_Snotlout stopped flying wildly, slowing Fireworm to fly parallel to Toothless. "Somethin' wrong?" he asked. There had to be. The Red Death was six months ago and two had grown from loathing each other to having a friendly rivalry, and in that time not once had Hiccup ever been able to ignore Snotlout's teasing that he might steal Astrid. Not even when he and Astrid had gotten into a big fight had he taken a jab like that lightly._

_"Yeah," Hiccup replied, the shadows under his eyes darkening in the still morning light. Then suddenly he was relating the whole tale to his cousin. _

_Snotlout was laughing at the end of it. Hiccup shot him a glare. "You're worried about that? Hahahahahaha! Oh, man! Hic, you may be a talking fishbone, but you always were good at solving problems! So just forget about it, okay? You'll think of something! Besides you can use this sob story to get some tongue action from Astrid!" _

_Hiccup still looked angry and hurting and Snotlout almost gave up, but then shoved Toothless across the sky. "Hey, toothpick! I'll race you to the cave!" _

_In the last moments before his Monstrous Nightmare shot off to the cave he could have sworn he saw his cousin's trademark grin break across his face._

"Well, that's good, means you'll be able to get me some of your dad's mead then. Look, I'm still mad at you for abandoning me in that damned smelly dragon cave, but I guess I can forgive you and help you with building if you let me name one of the scaly little beasts."

Hiccup was going to flat out refuse and had opened his mouth to say so when he heard someone else speak.

"Oh, oh, can I name one too!" he heard Fishlegs shout behind him. He suspected the boy was jumping up and down raising his hand like an overeager child.

Hiccup felt possessiveness cloud his heart. They were _his _dragons. Then he remembered that they wouldn't always be his, they might leave to live on their own or bond with a villager and stay with them. In the end he knew the dragons were not his to keep forever.

He sighed. "Okay."

"Sweet!" Fishlegs shouted, grabbing the mortar from Hiccup's arms. "It's going to need to be wide and long, big for the Night furies! Strong bricks for when the babies learn how to walk, so it won't crash to the ground if they hit it..."

Hiccup tuned the rest out. Once Fishlegs got going he could babble on for quite some time. Snotlout looked at Hiccup pleadingly gesturing jokingly to Fishlegs. He mimed punching and Hiccup shook his head and rolled his eyes at his cousin, laughing quietly to himself all the same.

He was about to reposition his supplies when he heard a high-pitched voice followed by the sight of long blond hair. At first he thought it was Astrid, but was proven wrong moments later when he realized it just Ruffnut. Tuffnut was close behind.

"I'll help you, if you let me go on a date with you..." she murmured seductively, pressing her face right next to his. "...And if you let me name one of the babies!" she added as an afterthought.

"I'll take part of that action!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"You want a date with Hiccup?" Ruffnut questioned in disgust.

"Eeew, gross!" he exclaimed in reply. "I just want you married and out of my hair as soon as possible!"

"Do you really want me out of the house so bad?" Ruff questioned her brother, turning to get in his face.

"Yeah, I do! Cause you're always annoying me and touching my stuff and acting like a dumb girl!" he shouted.

"Are you forgetting just which one of us still sucks their thumb and needs my help getting back to sleep after he has bad dreams?" Ruff yelled, and then stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Oh yeah, well don't forget who helps you braid your hair and who let you cry on his shoulder when you realized you and Hiccup would never be an item?"

The two twins growled at each other and broke into an all out fist fight. Hiccup cocked an eyebrow wondering if he should put down his things and attempt to stop the fight. He didn't have to wonder long.

Astrid suddenly appeared and pulled the two apart. "Knock it off!" she shouted fiercely into both their ears. The other three boys turned to watch. "That date. Never. Going. To. Happen. Ever!" She growled to Ruff, emphasizing every single syllable. "But you two can each name one of the babies if you want." Then she pushed both away, so that they landed on their butts in a muddy puddle on the ground. "After I name one. I get first pick of course, because I'm Hiccup's _girlfriend._" Both Ruff and Lout glowered at the way she said girlfriend.

Astrid strode past Hiccup, throwing him her most seductive glance. "Yeah," Hiccup agreed dreamily, his voice soft and buttery. It was clear that Astrid had the poor boy wrapped around her finger.

Hiccup almost dropped the supplies he was carrying, until Astrid grabbed it all from his grip and threw the hammer and bucket of nails at the twins. Only Tuffnut, distracted, got hit in the head by the pail of nails, knocking his helmet off and spilling them into the mud. Ruffnut, who had caught the hammer flying towards her, dodged a swipe by her brother as she laughed at him. He got down on his knees and began to pick up the nails, one by one, as the others scrabbled to start building. Ruffnut continued laughing boisterously, but then her gaze softened for a moment and she bent down to help her brother, reminding him how much of a clumsy idiot he was and hinting that he was doing it wrong.

"Well, it looks like everyone's here," Gobber chuckled, taking his time walking up the hill, Stoick following after him.

"We'd better get to work if we want to get a good start before sundown," Stoick explained.

Hiccup smiled, then started divvying up the tasks according to who could do them the best. Then the eight Vikings set to work on a place for Brighteyes and her babies to live. Joy filled Hiccup, soon Toothless would feel happier than ever, surrounded day and night by his own species. It didn't matter how much work was needed, he would do it for his best friend, Toothless.

A few months later the Vikings found out exactly why Night Furies were so rare.

**AN: Hey, hey, hey! Sorry it took so long to post this chapter! Life happens! Again i'd thank my great beta reader Annabeth the Unicorn and all the readers and anyone who's faved/reviewed! Thank you all! Heh, heh, heh, evil plot twist time!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Daddy Toothless

Author's Note: Hey guys, I haven't updated this in two years. Some of you are remarkably patient. Thanks. I was going through my old files and found the fifth chapter that I had already written and forgot to post. I was reminded by a reviewer who asked when it was going to be posted. So here it is! Reading it now, the quality seems horrible, because I like to believe I've improved in almost two years. Depending on what you guys think I might write a short epilogue. Thanks for all the reviews, and watches and your patience especially.

* * *

A bead of sweat travelled down Hiccup's forehead, mingling with the other beads to leave a wet sheen. He didn't know why he was nervous, but he knew the reason for the knot of other emotions tangling together in his gut. Anger, resentment, shock, confusion, frustration, hurt... He held them inside, until they became a roiling ball, an almost physical thing.

Hoping to delay the inevitable as long as possible he peeled another layer of fur off his sweat covered body. He pulled his vest off and threw it to the ground with casual indifference. He was too distracted to think properly. He looked down at the pile of clothes he had discarded in the heat and the puddle that they were lying in. The snow that had been covering them had long ago melted. He listened carefully and heard the faint howl of the wind through the winter air.

He took a deep breath and then crawled out through the tunnel, his stiff muscles screaming in protest. Regret filled him and he mentally slapped himself for staying in one position for so long. He had been the only one privileged enough to be allowed to see the eggs hatch; the others had to wait for him to get them to see the hatchlings.

He was surprised when he saw their faces, it had been hours and he figured they would have left out of boredom, but instead they were smiling at him. Well, most of them, the twins were bickering loudly with each other and Fishlegs was shyly casting glances towards Ruffnut. But Snotlout, surprisingly, was calm, quiet and collected. Astrid sat next to him, her fiery personality dimmed. It seemed as though the arrival of the hatchlings had changed everyone a little bit, some for the better and some for the worse. The other teens had helped him build the entire expansion to the house and through the months their excitement had grown to match his own. The hatchlings had given them responsibility – and something for Stoick to tease them about.

"Practicing to be parents are ye?" he would ask jokingly, followed by his hearty laughter and the laughter of whoever else was around at the time.

Or he would look to Astrid and say, "My, my, you seem quite enthused about those babes, don'tcha? Might ya be carrying one o' Hiccups in that slender belly o' your's?" Then he would break out in roaring laughter and Astrid would storm away, her cheeks bright red, a slew of profanities coloring the air. She usually found Snotlout and took it out on him in the only she really knew how: physically. She wasn't one to hit the chief, so she settled for his nephew. The only downside was Avnar threatening to murder the babies in their sleep if he ever brought them around to his house.

The thoughts made him smile a bit, but only for the briefest of seconds, then his previous feelings returned and his face fell.

Astrid felt Snotlout tense beside her, the twins stop fighting to stare at Hiccup, Fishlegs joining them a moment later and herself fill with dread. Hiccup was just standing there, eyes darting back and forth between them. Hours ago, when he found out they were lucky enough to come on the exact day to see the dragons hatch, he had beamed with pride and stood as straight as he was able. Now his shoulders slumped dejectedly, his eyes were bloodshot as if they'd been staring for a long time and his breathing seemed irregular.

Something had happened and the shock hadn't worn off, that was easy enough to see. She stood up and walked towards Hiccup. The others got up and followed until they formed a small semi-circle around the boy.

"They're all dead," he spoke somberly, before they could ask him what happened, "All, but one."

The tight ball of emotions he held in his gut became tighter and more painful as he took in the shocked and pained faces of his friends.

"Are you sure?" Snotlout exclaimed in anger, looming menacingly in front of Hiccup. Hiccup looked at his cousin's shaking hands and angry eyes, trying not to say something sarcastic to him because he was obviously as shocked and disappointed as he was.

Hiccup caught Astrid's eyes and the slow shake of her head. He understood and winked at her. Snotlout talked big, but was in actuality was kind of slow and emotional. He had remembered the fear the dragon had instilled in him when he had tried to introduce him to one and the child-like awe when he realized he could be friends with them. Snotlout was a child.

Hiccup recalled the conversation he'd overhead between his father and his uncle over a cup of mead, the latter quite drunk and laughing uproariously, yet still keeping enough composure to have a conversation.

You should see how excited Snotlout is! He keeps going on and on about how he's gonna wrestle with the baby dragon's everyday and sneak them extra mead and food so that they don't remain skinny little twigs like Hiccup!

Just make sure he doesn't crush 'em. That son of yours is so big and dense 'e might flatten the whole village!

Aye. And your son's such a twig 'e'll prolly be knocked over by the runt o' the litter.

He looked up into his eyes. The eyes of a previous tormentor, a better Viking and well endowed cousin. They were storm grey and they still taunted him, though to a lesser extent and with far more sarcastic backlash than before the life changing encounter with the Green Death.

Snotlout grabbed him by his tunic. "What the Hel, Hiccup!" he shouted. "I could've done a better job than you! By Odin's name, I did, when you left me here! I swear on Odin's grave you little twig! You're supposed to know these things! You're the Almighty Dragon Trainer! Hiccup the Wise! Hiccup the Useful! More like Hiccup the Failure!"

"Yes, I'd love to see how well the dragons would fare with a brainless ape for their mommy. That would turn out wonderfully!" Hiccup exclaimed in his all too familiar sarcasm as his bucktoothed smile crept on to his face.

In the face of familiar territory he had forgotten his pain for a moment. He realized that he and his cousin understood no other way of communicating than through taunts and sarcasm. It was hard not to smile at how silly their conversations could often become and how competitive they could be over who was doing the best.

The two boys were engaged in a glaring contest, one dangling inches from the ground while being held by the other. Snotlout snorted and dropped him. Hiccup was not surprised that his cousin made sure he landed on his feet. Arms crossed he stared at him cockily, one eyebrow raised, his prosthetic slightly forward. Astrid had, in front of everyone, revealed that Snotlout shed a tear upon the conformation of Hiccup being alive after the Green Death incident.

Hiccup smiled and dared Snotlout to disprove both his current and his previous kindnesses. He grunted. "I didn't want your blood getting the floor dirty, that's all. And the Red Death incident-"

"Green Death,"

"Whatever! All I know is that thing was huge. And I wasn't crying. That useless reptile of yours blew dust in my eye and made it water. A lot. My eyes are so filled with awesome that they over work and produce too much water anyways."

Hiccup chuckled as Snotlout flexed his arms trying to impress everyone. Suddenly he was laughing uncontrollably and holding his sides as he tried not to choke. The laughter turned awkward and stuttering. Everyone stared as the stress from waiting and waiting for the eggs to hatch and having only one live finally broke him and he doubled over in his laughter.

A low growl from the cave behind brought him back to his senses and he lurched back to a standing position as he panted, sharp long breath's filling his chest and his hammering heart echoing in his ears.

He sighed as his happiness flew from his breast like a caged sparrow finally being freed and left only pain and sadness in its place. He looked mournfully behind him to the entrance of the cave, gloomily silhouetted in an eerie green. He turned and motioned for the others to follow.

"Come on guys, you might as well help get rid of the dead eggs," he explained soberly as he walked slowly to the cave.

Everyone followed. They were all soberly reflecting on their own as they followed the long tunnel to the cave. The twins didn't fight, Snotlout didn't brag and Fishlegs didn't spew random facts. Astrid walked a few paces behind Hiccup, hands folded in front of her, brooding quietly to herself. Everyone ran into her when she stopped out of nowhere.

"Why?" she asked in a raspy confused voice, "Why is this any different than the other dragons? We've heard of at least a hundred dead eggs since we've been watching them! Why are these eggs special?"

"Yeah!" Hiccup heard chorused from the other four teens behind him.

Hiccup turned. In the dim light he thought he saw distress on his friends' faces, but he couldn't be sure. He wondered if he should be insulted. He thought about Viking funerals. No one cried but the mood was sombre. Vikings hid their emotions and cut them off. They made themselves numb so they wouldn't cry. As long as they were numb they could be strong.

His friends weren't used to being so emotional. But now that they had dragons that they had grown very close to it had become different. The whole village loved the dragons, but it was the younger generation of Vikings that were truly becoming attached to them. A ten year old had cried when he found a dead dragon in the forest and no one had stopped him. They had just let him cry.

Everyday the scope of what Hiccup had done seemed to broaden. Everyday something or someone new was affected. What would the Vikings be like when he was chief? Everything was changing and even he couldn't predict that. While he ultimately wanted the Vikings to remain as tough and butt-kicking as they were he wouldn't be opposed to more attachment or emotion either.

"Maybe," Hiccup answered slowly, "Maybe it's because they were ours!" Conviction filled his voice, "We were the ones that built them a better place to live and we're the ones that spoil our current dragons. It's only natural we would feel some sort of attachment to them! And of course it's only natural to be disappointed and to be hurting about most of them being gone! And of course Vikings are very stubborn and possessive!"

"You know you sound like a twat, right Hiccup?" Snotlout asked, though he was trying hard to keep a smile off his face.

"Says the big, dumb Lout who was happily fantasizing over all ten babies rolling and playing together with you in a big jumbled heap!" Hiccup retorted quickly.

"By Odin, you two switch moods fast!" Ruffnut exclaimed, "What are you? Girls?"

"What does being a girl have to do with it at all?" Tuffnut asked.

"Idiot. Girls switch moods once a month when they bleed."

"Ew! Since when?"

"Since when? Why are you so surprised? You live with me!"

"Then you must have it every day of the month! Cause you're always irritable!"

Hiccup smiled at how familiar the twins' fights had become and how easy it was to forget his troubles around his friends. Certainly they were strange and, more often than not, annoying, but Hiccup always had a sarcastic retort ready for them. It's strange to think that only six months ago I was almost completely ostracized by them!

Hiccup stopped mid-step. The laughter and fighting faded away around him. Looking down at the ground he saw Toothless staring intently at the nine dead dragon eggs. Across the room Brighteyes was lying on her side and a tiny baby Night Fury was suckling precious milk from her body.

Hiccup crossed to the eggs, stepping carefully over rotting food Toothless had brought for his mate, fresh and old dragon dung and the cracked remains of an egg. He carefully crouched beside Toothless in front of the eggs. Balancing carefully and casting his weight between his prosthetic and his real leg he settled into a familiar position. His muscles sighed into place as they fell back into the place he had been crouching for hours before returning to his friends.

His hand shot out for one of the eggs, but he stopped short when he heard Toothless's growl beside him. Black lips rippled in anger over white daggers. Green slit eyes met shocked dinner plate eyes. Toothless snorted in Hiccup's face and grinned smugly as his boy's chest heaved up and down.

"They're dead!" Hiccup spoke firmly, as he cupped his hands around one of the eggs. Toothless made no move to stop him. He stopped. The eggs felt strange. It was deathly cold and instead of being hard the shell was soft. It rippled under his hands and he felt sure it would break far too easily if he wasn't careful. It was soft and squishy like a bladder of water.

Grunting with effort, Hiccup heaved the egg up to his chest. The weight surprised him and he tipped backwards. Cringing, he waited for an impact that never came. Hands gripped him tightly under the armpits. They weren't Astrid's hands. He knew them well enough to know they were smaller. Twisting his head behind him he looked into storm grey eyes.

"Thanks 'Lout," he spoke sombrely.

Fishlegs gently pried the egg from Hiccup's hands and held it reverently as Snotlout pulled his cousin back into a standing position.

"Maybe you should let us do the lifting. It is hard to balance with only one foot, after all..." Snotlout suggested carefully, twiddling his thumbs and glancing away from Hiccup.

"I'm not that overly sensitive about my leg. Sure it stinks worse than you not having it, but you don't have to act like I'm going to blow up or start crying every time you mention it!"

"Sorry, Princess! I didn't mean–"

"Do we really have to dispose of the eggs?" Fishlegs interrupted brokenly.

All head turned towards Fishlegs. Hiccup whimpered, unsure of how he should answer. Snotlout gave a friendly slap on the back for support. It hurt more than Hiccup cared to admit. He nearly fell forward, but managed to get his balance back before he embarrassed himself.

"They're dead. The only thing to do for them now is to drop them into the abyss," Hiccup spoke bluntly.

"Everyone grab one," he commanded firmly, a feeling of leadership taking over.

"Yes, mighty chief Hiccup!" Snotlout shouted, miming an exaggerated bow.

The others snickered and went to each grab an egg.

Hiccup wrinkled his nose in annoyance and then continued on bossing them around, "And be careful you don't crush the eggs. Because the babies are... dead, the eggs are going to be very soft and flimsy. I would hate for the eggs to crack and spill all over you.

"Big deal!" mocked Tuffnut, as he fought with Ruffnut over which egg to carry.

"It is," replied Hiccup calmly, "considering no dragon will come within several feet of you because of how awful rotten dragon eggs smell. It'll be worse than your usual stink. You'll have to stay here with a moody, overprotective Brighteyes until it goes away!"

"At least being stuck here is better than being stuck at home with Ruff! You should see what she does when she's blee-mmmfff!"

Ruffnut had clamped her hands over her brother's mouth and was struggling against him as he tried to slap them away. In their struggle the egg they had been fighting over flew from their grasp and up into the air.

Hiccup gaped up in horror, riveted to his spot as he watched it sail in a wide, tall arc. Right for him. He screamed and threw his arms up in the air. He flinched and screwed his eyes shut the moment he felt the flimsy egg come into contact with him.

The leathery shell held for a moment against his body and then broke, pouring its contents all over him. Black slime oozed from the deflated shell and stuck in his hair. Oozing down his body and to the floor it made an oily puddle in front of his feet. He wiped the gunk away from his eyes and watched in horror as it stuck to his arms. Bile rose in his throat the moment the smell hit his nostrils. It was worse than rotten fish, sweaty socks and unwashed Vikings combined. His eyes watered from the powerful smell and as he rubbed his eyes with his clean hand. It came away with the black slime that was dripping off his forehead covering it. The black gunk was thick and sticky. It dripped slowly and was as viscous as jelly. Hiccup's breaths came in rapid succession and his face turned sickly pale.

He turned to his friends, who were staring wide eyed and shocked, hands covering their noses and their eyes just beginning to water. No one was filled with mirth or laughter any more.

"Hiccup..." Fishlegs mumbled nervously, pointing towards the other boy's chest with a shaking finger.

Hiccup looked down and saw, amidst the sticky black slime, a streak of red and a tiny, black, partly formed dragon foot. He shrieked, so loud and high pitched it was as if Garm of Helheim was torturously ravaging his soul. Waggling his arms he grabbed his shirt and tried to forcedly shake the foot off. The claws were caught so wholly in the fabric that it seemed the only way to get the foot off would be to rip the fabric itself off. The sight of Hiccup freaking out would have been incredibly amusing had there been a different reason for it.

Hiccup took a step forward to try and get in better light and calm down. A squeak echoed through the cave and Hiccup's face twisted into a horrified expression as his metal foot slipped on the black goo and sent him falling towards the rest of the incredibly fragile eggs.

For a single frozen moment as Hiccup sailed through the air he wished Night Furies scattered each individual egg in a different location, instead of in a cluster. The breath was knock out of him and his hands flew straight up as he impacted on the hard ground.

He managed to shut his eyes before a wave of the black muck exploded around him. It was cold and sticky on every part of his body. Oily tendrils snaked under his clothes, into his eyes and any opening his body had. Sucking in a shallow breath he tried – and failed – to keep the black substance from entering his mouth. He coughed violently, but swallowed some unintentionally. The taste was worse than anything he'd ever imagined and the very thought of what was in his mouth caused his stomach to turn and bile to rise in his throat.

He managed to climb to his knees after several attempts. His hands were constantly sliding and he fumbled blindly, his eyes full of muck. They burned horribly and he tried to wipe the muck away with his sleeve. His whole body was covered with the substance so the effort was wasted. He crawled forward and felt his hand squish through another flimsy egg.

Gasping as his hand gripped an unknown item that was tiny and scaled, Hiccup crawled forward, released the object and retched.

Snotlout grumbled as he stared at his vomit covered boots. "My good boots!" he shouted angrily, yanking Hiccup up with both hands curled around his tunic.

"Lout," Hiccup muttered brokenly, spitting out vomit and the black gunk between each word, "I'm sorry."

Snotlout stared at him angrily and looked down to his boots. He saw that the vomit covering them could wash off and with enough patience and care his new boots would be almost new again. He also noted his cousin's feet dangling off the ground.

He looked at Hiccup covered with black, shuddering and quite nearly crying. He glanced towards his friends eyes burning and noses wrinkled from the stink of the eggs. And finally he looked at Toothless who was watching over his mate, Brighteyes and his one baby. Looking to the huge black stain that was on the ground and the one egg Hiccup hadn't destroyed he realized the dragons would have to be moved from this place if they didn't want the lingering stench of the eggs surrounding them.

He dropped Hiccup and heard him grunt and grit his teeth as his metal foot hit the ground. It took a moment of silent waiting for Astrid to rush forward and help for him to realize that the others hadn't heard the grunt of pain from Hiccup.

Does his leg still hurt him? Snotlout wondered. He looked at his boots once more. They can be cleaned and be as good as new. But Hiccup will never get his leg back. And Toothless will never get those babies back.

Tuffnut stared awkwardly at Hiccup and Snotlout. He watched as Snotlout's head went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. What are they doing? Having a staring contest? He growled in annoyance as it went on. He smiled when Snotlout dropped Hiccup, though only because it meant something actually interesting might happen. He was disappointed to find out he was wrong. He was about to push Ruffnut out of boredom, when Snotlout's voice echoed in a strange monotone through the cave.

"Tuff, come 'ere,"

Wide, hard grey eyes bode no disobeying. A joke that Tuffnut had been about to let loose fizzled and died on his tongue. He gulped and strode over to his friend.

"Gimme yer vest!"

"What?" Tuffnut shouted in anger.

"I said gimme yer vest!" Snotlout yelled right in his face as he pushed him down.

Tuffnut's butt hit the ground with a thump and Ruffnut snickered behind him. He snorted and then began pulling his vest off.

"Fine, I'm like cooler without it on anyways!" he commented.

Snotlout rolled his eyes and ripped the vest out of Tuffnut's shocked and surprised hands.

"Hiccup, come here!"

He watched as the boy whirled around blindly, unable to see and barely able to hear. He tried wiping his hands on his pants so he could wipe his eyes, but his entire body was covered in the black goo. He heard an angry sigh and felt himself yanked towards Snotlout.

"You can't even follow my voice? Ugh, seriously Hiccup, you're off your game today," he spoke as he gently used Tuffnut's sweater to wipe away the clinging black goo. He affectionately pulled off his own sweater when Tuffnut's was completely dirty and allowed Hiccup to use it to wipe his eyes.

Able to finally breathe and see once again Hiccup opened his eyes to see his friends staring dumbfoundedly at him and Snotlout. Looking down to his hands where he held a ruined a tattered vest he realized why.

"I can clean this for you," Hiccup gulped as Snotlout stared at him.

"Thanks for volunteering cous!" Snotlout shouted, "Can you also do Tuff's vest and my boots when you get back? Thanks! And maybe hook us all up with some mead!"

Hiccup was about to protest when Snotlout gave him an affectionate slap on the back. It was harder than anything Astrid had ever dealt him and as he toppled forward, he struggled to regain he balance. Overcorrecting he plopped onto his butt on the ground, landing inches away from the last intact egg.

"Why is it that boys only think of beer?" Ruffnut asked Astrid.

Hiccup watched Astrid give a coy smile, before the twins broke out fighting over Ruff's comment and Fishlegs teased Snotlout about his affectionate way of handling Hiccup. As Snotlout broke into a fight with Fishlegs Hiccup turned his attention to the last egg and froze as he saw thin cracks breaking across the egg like rivers breaking through land.

"Guys, look," Hiccup whispered. When that proved ineffective he shouted, "Shut up and look you idiots!" and finally they obeyed.

His eyes fixed on the egg and his breath caught in his thin throat. He watched in amazement as the thin cracks deepened and spread quickly across the pure black egg, mottled scars shattering fragile beauty. Then, quicker than he had anticipated, he heard a wet, ripping noise that made the bile rise in his throat and sent a shiver down his spine. His heart hammered for the second time that day as he watched the egg hatch. Before he realized what he was looking at the egg was in pieces and a small, perfect replica of Toothless was lying flat on its belly before him, leftover fluid from the egg still dripping off its pure black body and obscuring its mouth and nostrils. Well, he noted with interest, almost perfect. Where the right hind leg should have there was only a mottled stump.

With impressive gusto for a newly hatched dragon it hacked up the fluid and phlegm obscuring its mouth and nostrils, sending it flying in Hiccup's direction. He just ducked in time and it instead left another mark on Snotlout's boots.

It dragged itself the short distance across the floor to where Brighteyes and its sibling – already finished drinking milk and now curled peacefully into a ball – were wating. The little dragon's belly scraped along the cave floor as it dragged itself to Brighteyes, still too new and too weak to stand and walk. Despite it being a bit more difficult the little dragon stubbornly forced itself forward.

When it finally made it to Brighteyes, who was lying with her belly to the side, Toothless lying against her other side, it clamped down and began suckling on her teats for the milk that it would drink for more than a few months to come.

"It's a runt!"

"Four speed, five attack, good wings, can still fly..."

"Heh, it's as ugly as you, must be a boy!"

"Ugly? I'm the irresistible one, like all girls! You're the ugly one!"

"It must be pretty stubborn if it hatched when we all thought it was dead."

"Aye," Hiccup finally spoke, cutting through the all the other talk like a scythe cutting through wheat, "I guess we Vikings have rubbed off on the dragons. Stubborn to fault."

"Occupational hazards of training dragons," Snotlout joked, "What can you do?"

And for once everyone laughed. The laughter felt good after all that had happened and it roared through the cave. They were happy despite Hiccup still sitting in a pile of dead baby dragons, despite all their eyes watering and their nostrils burning and most of all despite Toothless quietly mourning the babies he'd lost, but at the same time happily rejoicing over the babies he had.

But they still had a long way to go.


End file.
